Clients that I consult to are always asking me how I think their healthcare brand can become a market leader in the space that is opening up with Mobile (the newest mass market media). I always refer to a simple ABC:

A) Do something innovative

B) Share what you’re doing

C) Repeat

Of course small companies like ours try to do this everyday but it’s great to see healthcare market leaders that are also comfortable taking this proactive approach to doing business. As mentioned before Kaiser Permanente is without doubt one of these leaders and this article shared by Ted Eytan MD leaves us in no doubt that they are confident of their position as a key mHealth market leader.

My thoughts:

Still think seniors can’t use smartphones?

If you still hold prejudices about seniors not being able to use smartphones please watch 76 year old Richard Miller as he explains how he’s getting test results, making appointments, rescheduling appointments, ordering refills, veiwing his vaccine records, medical history, “seeing what the Doctor is seeing right on my little cellphone”, “ask the Doctor what should WE do?”, “open dialogue via a little cellphone that keeps me healthy, it’s cool, so I decided to become cool”…

I personally know sales executives working for the mHealth units of global telcos who can’t talk with this confidence and fluency about the mHealth opportunity.

Add value for patients by making them feel productive

Melissa Marote, a 40 year old new mother, makes one of the best explanations I’ve ever heard of why we need to give power to patients.

It’s not just the ability to message her Doctors via her mobile that interests her it’s also the paperless experience and the feeling that you get from being productive and not having your time wasted:

You can take a man out of Ireland but you can’t take Ireland out of the man

I can only start to imagine the “brain dead time” that comes from ploughing Oregan fields as although our farms here in Ireland are much smaller it was exactly this factor that had me (more than a decade ago) grabbing for a smartphone.

He does a great job explaining the opportunity mobile access is giving patients and obviously for us here at 3G Doctor it’s great to hear him explain that the “bit I think is most valuable is communicating with my physicians”…

How can this approach create me new business?

Sometimes I’m asked about why I don’t think advertising is going to be so important for mHealth service providers. After watching these videos is anyone really left with any doubt that KP is not just a key authority on mHealth innovation but it’s also authentic to it’s founding principles of partnership, integration, and prevention?

In the world of healthcare even expensive superbowl commercials wouldn’t give the same impact for a brand than you’ll get from watching these videos of real patients telling their stories.

If you’re holding onto clients simply because the market doesn’t know who they are yet you need to change your strategy, quick. And if a big healthcare provider can innovate like we’re seeing at KP why can’t a telco?